


The Thunder of the Glaciers

by StrangeBlue



Series: Way Out There Be Dragons [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Adopted Children, And a Hug, Bad Puns, Bethesda gave us nothing, Don't copy to another site, Dragonborn loves her daughter, Dragonborn mom is trying her best, Family Fluff, Gen, Giant Headcanons, Giants are magical ice creatures, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I mention the Dragonborn dlc near the end so, I wrote something soft for once, Just an Orc and her Giant daughter, Lemme tell ya it is 1AM and I am still here, Momma Bear Dovah, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Daughter Talks, Oh look, Possible Oneshot Series, Someone needs a confidence boost in this, What do I name a giant? You put giants across three video games and two dlcs and give us nothing, Where is the lore Todd, parenting is hard, where is it?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23765500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeBlue/pseuds/StrangeBlue
Summary: The Dragonborn has a chat with her daughter about her future ventures as a productive member of society. And also drops totally unnecessary ice puns in between.
Relationships: Female Dovahkiin | Dragonborn & Original Character(s)
Series: Way Out There Be Dragons [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719367
Kudos: 17





	The Thunder of the Glaciers

**Author's Note:**

> I thought to myself on a day that I'm trapped inside the house with no other method of getting my creative energy out-  
> "What if the giants in Skyrim were actually a race with actual lore and depth?"  
> "What if they were walking ice machines who could breathe frost, shed ice crystal tears, and wield powerful ice spells as Karstaag was demonstrating?"  
> "What if there weren't only gross, wrinkly old men and there were sometimes women and children?"  
> "What. If. They. Are. Elves."  
> Thus, I present to you: Kyne.  
> I love her bunches.

“Hey Mum?”

“Yeah?”

“What should I do? When I get older, I mean.”

Ghorsha leaned over the railing of the alchemy tower on Lakeview Manor, looking down. From where she was sitting, she could see the top of her daughter’s head as she gazed out over the lake, the young branches she was braiding into a wreath sitting all but forgotten in her lap. The Dragonborn didn’t need to see the girl’s face in order to know that her brow was furrowed, deep in thought.

“Anything you want, I suppose,” she said. “Why, did you have some ideas?”

Kyne shrugged, hand reaching to finger at one of her braids. Ghora closed the book in her lap, moving to stand up so that she didn’t have to crane her neck.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I was thinking of travelling for a bit, like you do. Or maybe I’ll go to the College and study magic.”

“Those seem like good choices,” Ghorsha replied, crossing her arms across the balcony.

Out of her two adoptive children, Kyne always seemed to be the more withdrawn and quiet. While Lucia practically cannonballed into every new situation and opportunity, her sister would rather dip her toes in first and wade in the shallows.

Little encouragements like this seemed to be helping her some. She was hopeful that with time, her oldest daughter would learn to step outside of her shell, despite what this world may throw at her. However, it still took baby steps.

“I just don’t know,” she said, shaking her head in thought. “Would they even let me in?”

“What makes you say that?”

Kyne scoffed, craning her neck against the house to look up at her. Even in the summertime, her eyes were like frost on the windows. So light blue, they were almost white.

“I’m a giant, Mum. I hardly fit in the house when I was little.”

“I didn’t think you remembered that,” she said.

“Hard to forget all the times I bumped my head.”

True as that might have been once, Ghorsha made every accommodation she could to make sure her daughter could live with them as comfortably as possible. One of the first things she did was tear out the upper floors to make the ceilings higher and bash open the doorways for her to fit through. Nobody argued against it, as it was already obvious she was here to stay. Later on, a separate wing was built for her bedroom.

“I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble if you go to the College, dear. I was in there a couple of times. They have high ceilings.”

Kyne closed her eyes and thudded her head against the tower. A long sigh with breath as cold as frost billowed up and chilled her face. Ghorsha couldn’t help but shiver and rub her arm.

“It’s not so much that.”

“You’re worried that it’s because you’re a  _ giant,  _ not because you’re tall.”

“What if they treat me like-”

“Like an oddity? Dear, I counted two of every race minus one Nord. They barely gave Uncle Inigo a second glance. You might get a few stares, but in the end there’s a mutual respect between peers there that I’ve yet to see anywhere else in Skyrim.”

Her daughter pulled her knees up to her chest, picking at a nearby clump of moss. To that, she could only sigh. Ghorsha knew that she had much to be self conscious about, no doubt. But Kyne was strong in spirit and gentle in her manners. There was so much to be praised of her now and she could already see that her best years were yet to come. It just took a little convincing for her to see that.

“What’s it like? Up in Winterhold?”

Ghorsha smiled and stared out over the water with her. In the distance, a loon wailed against the soft rustling of the wind.

“Cold. Very, very cold. It snows almost everyday. On the days it doesn’t, the Sea of Ghosts stretches in both directions for what seems like forever and pods of whales swim between the icebergs. It’s also very quiet. But sometimes, you can hear glaciers fall into the ocean with a sound like thunder.”

“The snow wouldn’t bother me so much,” she mused. “Neither would the quiet.”

“I think it would be right in your element…”

A puff of ice crystals filled the air as Kyne snorted in exasperation. She saw those glacier ice eyes roll back in her skull as she groaned and dragged both hands down her face.

“You’re horrible. Almost as bad as Uncle Inigo.”

“Oh, I strive to be the absolute worst,” she said, letting a wry smile grace her features.

Despite the inevitable self damnation to Oblivion she’d brought upon herself with that single pun, Ghorsha saw her daughter smile and giggle to herself. “Think on it, dear,” she said. “You have a real gift with magic and you love to learn. This could be a great opportunity for you.”

“I’ll think about it. There was still some other stuff I was considering.”

“I understand. Take your time, you never have to stick with one thing.”

“How long do giants live for, anyway?”

Good question. One she didn’t quite have the answer for. She might try to ask another giant, but well- most she’d met weren’t very friendly, much less talkative. Perhaps if Kyne went to the College after all, that could be something she’d look into.

“A long time, I think. You have pointed ears, like mer. They can reach thousands, if uninterrupted.”

“Oh. Interesting.”

“Indeed.”

Raising children had been a learning curve for all involved, including herself. But she made it her mission to see that her family’s individual needs were met. And even though both her daughters still had plenty of growing to do, she already saw them beginning to flourish into their own people with each passing day. 

Out of all the accomplishments in her time as a hero of men and wielder of the Thu'um, raising her children had been both the most challenging and the most rewarding. Her only regret was not being home for every waking moment in the time it was taking for them to grow up. Which brought up another subject.

“Kyne, I’m going to have to leave again soon,” she said, watching her hands still just as she went back to weaving.

“...Where to?”

“Somewhere new, which means-”

“Uncle Lucien and Uncle Inigo are going too.”

She internally winced, hearing the disappointment in her tone. 

“I’m afraid so. It’s an island off the coast of Morrowind, called Solstheim. Someone there tried to have me killed.”

“Like the Dark Brotherhood? Why?” she asked, turning on her knees to face her.

“No, these people were different. And I don’t know why,” she explained. “I’m telling you this because I feel you have a right to know. We might not be back for awhile.”

“So it’s just gonna be me, Lucia, and Lydia again,” she said. “Are you gonna tell them?”

“I’ll fill Lydia in on it, but Lucia’s still a bit young to really understand.”

She watched her daughter’s eyes downcast, hands reaching up to her hair to fiddle with the braids. Then she stood, reaching her arm up to brush her fingers at the rim of the balcony above her head. While a fully grown giant man could do so with ease, Kyne had to stand on her tiptoes for her fingers to so much as graze the railing.

She reached through the wooden bars to take her fingers, which despite almost being the width of broomsticks, were slender and somewhat delicate.

“Promise you’ll be safe?”

There it was.The tearful, doe eyed look she’d seen on her face several times before. Whether it was the time she tried to bring home a mammoth calf or having to watch her leave to fight for the Dawnguard, all had Ghorsha fighting with herself to hand her her heart on a silver platter. Even her steward and housecarl didn’t seem to be immune, no matter how much she denied it.

“I promise I’ll come back to you. Will you help Lydia out, while I’m gone? Watch your sister?”

“I will, Mum.”

“Atta girl. Give me a month, tops. It’s a big island.”

When this whole Dragonborn business was over and done with, Ghorsha promised herself that she’d take her family and just- disappear. No more playing hero, no more fighting wars for other people, no more appeasing gods who didn’t so much as speak to her. She’d find somewhere quiet and build a house away from all the province's problems and demands. Just for them. But for now she needed to be the Dragonborn and don the mantle of a warrior so that her children could live without worry.

Whoever this Miraak person was, he had no idea whose wrath he just invoked.


End file.
